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PFox78 Author

Level 1

44 points

iOS 7 Music App sorting issues

Hello there,

I'm starting this discussion to express my displeasure with some changes in the Music app that have removed some key functionalities that I had come to rely upon.

First of all, there are some artists in my library with many albums. In iOS 6, accessing those artist's albums was easy. You would click on the artist tab, go to the artist and it would show a list of the albums. Then, you could choose an album and go right to those songs. In iOS 7, this has completely changed. Now, there's no longer an albums view under artists. You have to scroll song by song to get to the newer releases.

For instance, I'm a huge fan of Pearl Jam and have 60 albums of theirs (9 studio, the rest all live records). Now, to get to the latest, I have to spend 30 seconds scrolling all the way down the list. That's not efficient at all. The way it was before — you get a list of albums once you click on the artist, then click on an album to get the songs — should never have been changed.

Second, I consider myself a power user and sort all my albums using the "sort album" tag in iTunes. Previously, that carried over both over syncing and iTunes Match. Now, it ignores it completely. Even my old, trusty iPod Classic still pays attention to this!

I understand that most people don't set their sort order, but for those of us who do — and have spent tons of time doing it — why is this no longer the case?

I spoke with a senior technician yesterday and let him know of these issues. He documented them and is sending them directly to a programming engineer at Apple. I have his name, phone number and contact info and intend to follow up.

He agreed that iOS 7 should be adding functionality — not taking it away! The other thing the senior technician said to me is that the more people call and complain about something, the greater the chance that it will be rectified.

I did so in a very calm, respectful manner and he was very receptive to my concerns. SO, is anyone else frustrated about this? IF so, please post here!

Also, my suggestion to anyone else who feels disappointed in this removed functionality is to call in to Apple Care support and express your concerns in much the same way i did.

That way, if we make our collective voices heard, they'll reintroduce the functionalities we had in the first place.

Posted on Sep 20, 2013 8:22 AM

Top-ranking reply

pd18

Level 1

0 points

Posted on Sep 20, 2013 8:34 AM

I have scheduled a call with a technician for this afternoon, and will discuss my concerns as well. Let's hope that if enough people raise the issue, it will be addressed. I will post a follow up once I've spoken with Apple.

View in context

445 replies

Oct 1, 2013 8:11 PM in response to PFox78

I agree!!! The Music app has taken a step back in time and become less user friendly. I hate that I can't just shuffle one album by an artist that I have several albums from. I also don't like having to scroll the whole list of songs to find the album I'm looking for. Like someone else said... Maybe if enough of us complain about it, Apple will listen and fix the many issues in iOS 7.

Nedfp

Level 1

4 points

Oct 1, 2013 8:24 PM in response to PFox78

*****! Glad it is not just me who see this as a major flaw. Just give us the option to expand or collapse songs when displaying the Artist / Album list. So simple really. Give choice rather than force idiotic change. Who did the requirements for this? Must have been people with very small catalogues by artists.

PFox78 Author

Level 1

44 points

Oct 2, 2013 8:59 AM in response to Nedfp

Thanks to everyone who keeps posting. Please make sure to call and/or offer your feedback at http://www.apple.com/feedback

I totally agree with everyone here. Like Nedfp says, all they have to do is give us a choice! Again, it doesn't mean everyone has to sort things the way we like, but we have ample sorting options on iTunes on our Macs/PCs. With iOS become more and more a computing platform that people rely upon, the absence of choice and customizability is really irritating.

Otherwise, for those who are reading this, please chime in and offer your feedback. Let's keep doing this until they fix this debacle with iOS 7.1 — hopefully.

Echo_pdx

Level 1

5 points

Oct 2, 2013 9:08 AM in response to PFox78

The music app changes are a complete disaster. I've hardly listened to any music since ios7, and I haven't bought a thing...it's so frustrating and dispiriting. Guess I will set up a call with a technician.

PFox78 Author

Level 1

44 points

Oct 2, 2013 9:12 AM in response to Echo_pdx

Echo and others: If you happen to call in, you may want to direct the technician to this conversation. If they see that many people are upset about it, they'll likely take it more seriously and make sure the message gets through to the right people.

PCH54

Level 1

0 points

Oct 2, 2013 9:26 AM in response to PFox78

I think it's worth pointing out that Apple yesterday released an update to IOS 7 that addressed two issues, one having to do with security, the other restoring Greek letters for passwords. My point is that Apple is already responding to issues with IOS 7, and so it would be worth finding out (how I admit I have no idea) if they have any intention of addressing the music issues discussed in this forum.

Wogtopus

Level 1

0 points

Oct 2, 2013 10:08 AM in response to PFox78

Chiming in with my 2 cents... I browse almost exclusively by Artist. I was astonished when I upgraded to iOS7 and saw the albums resorted and the the entire catalog of songs jammed into one long list. I was hoping there was a setting I could change to make this work better and reduce the tedious scrolling through long song lists. But... No.

The iOS7 Music App is a big step backwards. Perhaps its intentional to drive everyone to iTunes Radio. Streaming from the cloud (as opposed to storing local copies on your device) is the future business model. Record labels are chomping at the bit to see the business move in this direction to reduce illegal file sharing. And providers like Apple and even wireless carriers are happy to oblige as it increases consumption of their services ($$$).

At any rate, I hate this change and will be sending feedback to AppleCare.

Oct 2, 2013 7:16 PM in response to PFox78

Just have to pile on: this update to the music app is absolutely horrible...I have tons of artists with 10+ albums, some with 30+ and one artist with a few hundred albums and 3,000 songs - this update make getting to any of their music sooooo inefficient. Loved the old music app (although I don't mind some of the changes to the new one), but to eliminate basic navigation like this is just crazy. As someone above said, whoever designed this must have about 50 total songs on their phone and no more than 2 or 3 per artist.

Hopefully this gets fixed soon, or I'll start seeking out other alternatives.

Just as an add on, I kind of like having the radio built into the app and would probably use it a bit if the app were usable...if I have to get another music app, forget about it, I'd never go to the apple music app just for the radio.

holisim

Level 1

0 points

Oct 2, 2013 11:53 PM in response to PFox78

same problem here.. it's much less useful then before

pluse the whole app is not as clear as use to be, i offten see the album cover on screen and dont know

if the iphone is locked or am i in the app

and the bluetooth conection icon is gone to the control pannel.. why?

Oct 3, 2013 2:33 AM in response to PFox78

Just another comment. The music player is probably the most heavily used feature on the iphone for me, especially since I got the ipad. With these limitations (along with other frustations about the overall lack of customizability in IOS and OSX in general) I'm seriously looking at other platforms for my next phone. I need to be able to tweak the experience to my needs, especially if it's setup for someone else's way. The extremely limited way to manipulate your music in the player is effectively ruining the music listening experience for me. And I have absolutely no interest in itunes radio. I don't need Apple's "Music Experts" to help me determine what's good.

Runic77

Level 1

10 points

Oct 3, 2013 8:41 AM in response to PFox78

Hi, I too am very frustrated with this but I noticed something really odd.

On my iPad, if I select Albums in the music apps, all the albums are sorted by artists and then albums by release date... just like in iTunes.

Why is it not like that on my iPhone where 50Gb of music resides? It would not be as good as the old Music app but at least it would make the Album view useful...

Let us know if Apple moves on this issue.

thanks

Rudy

Echo 3

Level 1

0 points

Oct 4, 2013 2:48 AM in response to PFox78

There really is nothing I can add to what everyone else has said, the new music app is dreadul and on showing it to friends there is no way they will update to iOS7 with the music app in its current state.

iOS 7 has a few teething problems elsewhere that I can live with but the music app has been changed just for the sake of it and I really wish I could go back to iOS6 because of that.

bigmac50

Level 1

14 points

Oct 4, 2013 7:14 AM in response to PFox78

On my iPad, iOS 7 no longer alphabetizes songs in the song sort. This is absolutely ridiculous. It seems to list the songs by the first name of the artist except for the first song which is played by someone called "unknown artist."

Interestingly, in 1968 while a senior at Lehigh University, a renowned sociologist demonstrated how they could alphabetize a list of names with the computer. We were completely dazzled.

I am not dazzled by the changes to the music app.

Oct 4, 2013 7:59 AM in response to bigmac50

bigmac, no such problem on my iPad 2 with iOS 7.0.2, the Songs list is sorted alphabetically by song title as it always has been.

Now, I did have major problems with iOS 7 on my iPad when first installed (songs wouldn't play, playlist song counts would repeatedly flash, etc.) so I restored and loaded my backup, twice (at 7 and 7.0.2). I don't know if the Song sorting was ever a problem, but since my iPad does not have this problem you might try restoring. You can also try changing the "Group by Album Artist" Music setting to see if that changes anything for you.

Polezi88

Level 1

0 points

Oct 5, 2013 10:43 AM in response to PFox78

I have finally decided to say something about this horrid, disgusting, putrid, pathetic excuse for an os. All I wanted to do today was look through my songs and make a new playlist for the gym. You used to be able to tap and hold

And see the full name of the song.. ***?! Not anymore!! Do I have to go and rename my 15gb of music just to suit this stupid new music app?! I had to guess what the songs were?! And you can't preview.. You can't even do this once the playlist is done you HAVE to go into now playin to see the full name. Another thing is, I used to keepy

music app hidden in a folder somewhere, why? , because I used to be able to double tap, swipe right and bam there is my music app.. Now? You can only access by swiping up from the bottom and tapping on the song now playing or on pause... Ok BUT WHAT IF THERE IS NO SONG NOW PLAYING OR ON PAUSE?!!!!!!!! You cant click on the ----:;-- whatever crap to get to the music app.. So so so so so many other anoying things.. I cant hack the new safari I cant hack the sensitivity of the touch, I cant hack the brigh bright whiteness.. I cant even scale pictures for my lock /home screens. This update is by far the WORST.. Thing that apple has ever done.. EVER! I am a proud mac user with owning 4 devices. I will be willing to revert back to pc if these issues dont get fixed and if they even dare to try these stupid "improvements" on my iMac or macbook pro.. I will seriously throw that sh*t out the window!!! I am so frustrated!! But I'm glad I'm not the only one..

iOS 7 Music App sorting issues